Two Skates and One Bunny (HIATUS)
by ACanadianSouthpaw
Summary: This is a story about John Cottontail, the first-ever bunny to lace up the skates and play in the Zootopia Hockey Association (or the ZHA). Join him on his adventures in the ice rink as he tries to prove to the world that a rabbit can indeed play hockey. This is my first Zootopia fanfic. Read it, leave some feedback, and enjoy!
1. Chapter 1 - Deep Breathing

"Breathe in…breathe out…"

In the locker room, a rabbit with grey fur was sitting in its stall, visibly nervous. He wore a full set of hockey gear, the back of his jersey bearing his last name, Cottontail, as well as the number 9. On the front, a tornado logo was there. The rabbit was breathing deeply, trying to calm himself down.

"Hey, Johnny, you good bud?" asked a noticeably taller arctic wolf.

"Yeah...I'm fine...just a bit nervous."

"First game jitters eh? Don't worry about it. Just relax and try to have fun. Your first ZHA game only happens once."

"Yeah, I'll...try," replied John Cottontail.

The Arctic Wolf nodded and walked off to his own stall to get ready. John wanted to tell the Arctic Wolf the real reason he was nervous but John knew that the wolf wouldn't understand. The fact that it was his first game wasn't what was making him so nervous. It was the fact that he would be the first-ever bunny to ever play in the Intermediate Size Division of the Zootopia Hockey Association. Actually, he was the first bunny to even play in the league. Normally, he would use this as motivation, to prove to all the scouts, sportswriters, and the rest of the nay-sayers that a bunny could play hockey, to give them a good first impression. But that same mentality was what was making him nervous. All of a sudden, a memory played in John's head.

* * *

A little rabbit kit was skating on a pond.

He was playing hockey with a few of his rabbit friends.

"Shoot, Johnny!" shouted another little rabbit beside him. "Cmon, take the shot!"

A young John looked at the net, assessing where he should aim. He decided to aim just under the goalie's armpit. Snapping his wrist, he took the shot. The puck flew through the air, going under the goalie's arm and into the net. The little rabbit let out a happy cheer as his teammates went over to hug him.

"That was awesome Johnny!"

The kit laughed. "Thanks, Mark!"

"Hey look! Bunnies playing hockey!"

All of the bunnies on the ice turned their heads to the direction of the voice. Three foxes were walking towards them.

"Aw...how cute," said a fox who had a sneer on his face. "These little bun-buns think they can play."

"We don't think we can play, we know we can play!" replied one of the bunnies. The foxes simply snickered.

A little John went up to the three foxes. He was going to try to calm things down. "Hey guys, we can just split the ice. If they want to join us though, they can."

"Like we'd want to play against you weak carrot farmers. Now, scram. Get out of our rink."

The little John put his hands up. "Hey, we aren't trying to start a fight or anything. How about we share? Besides, this is everybody's rink."

"Ha. Like you guys would do anything if we didn't share. Now, this is your final warning. Get off our ice or we'll make you."

"Hey, just list-"

John was interrupted with a swift punch to the face, falling over.

"I SAID SCRAM!"

The other rabbits simply gathered their stuff and ran away. John scrambled off the ice, running off with the rest of his friends.

* * *

The rabbit shook his head. 'That was in the past.' He knew that thinking about that incident wouldn't help. Instead, he took deep breaths, telling himself that he could do this. But he could never seem to get the memory out of his head.

'Was this a mistake?'

From the other side of the locker room, an arctic fox sighed as she observed John. The arctic fox was the team's skating coach. She had an idea of why the rabbit was so nervous and was surprised the other players couldn't pick up on it. Though, she was sort of glad. The less prejudice they had against John, the better.

"The pressure of being the first rabbit to play hockey is really getting to him, isn't it," the vixen told nobody in particular. "Being the smallest player in the history of this division doesn't help either."

As expected, nobody had heard her clearly as the rest of the team was busy chatting away.

"Hm? Did you say something, Miss Jenna?" inquired a beaver nearby. Strangely, beavers were relatively popular in this division of the ZHL. Then again, it was mostly the biggest and toughest beavers who played in the league.

The skating specialist shook her head. "No, I didn't say anything. Also, don't call me Miss Jenna. I'm not that old, Buck," she replied with a chuckle.

Buck simply shrugged and went back to tying his skates. Suddenly, the room grew quiet, as a polar bear walked into the room. It was their coach, Richard Bear.

"Alright! We're going onto the ice in a couple of minutes. So, time for me to read the starting lineup," announced the bear.

"Of course, Fang Snowpelt will be our starting goalte-"

"Wait, sir, don't you usually start with the forwards?" interrupted Buck, who was slightly confused.

"Well, I decided to try something new. Now, where was I? Oh yes. Buck Chiptooth and Russell Frost will be the defensemen starting out tonight."

Buck looked over at his defense partner, who was a red fox. The fox and the beaver turned to each other and fist-bumped.

"And for our forwards, Kris Southpaw (yes, he's left-handed,) and Cam Howler will be joined by John Cottontail."

An eruption of cheers filled the locker room as the rest of the team congratulated John. John was awkwardly smiling while teammates began shaking his paw and high fiving him. Inside though, he was screaming. He was happy he was going to start, of course, but…

'I'm going to start!' he thought as his nerves kicked in even more.

Cam, who was the Arctic Wolf from earlier, noticed his nervous look. "Hey, no need to be worried! If Coach trusts you to be starting, then that's a good start. Right, Kris?"

In the corner, a fox with snow-white fur just calmly nodded, saying nothing.

Then all of the other animals nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and you get to start on the first line!"

John was very surprised. "Wait, who was on this line before?" he asked, turning to Cam.

"Kyle Westwood, but he was traded. So don't worry about anybody being mad at you for snatching their spot," Cam answered.

After a few minutes of excited chatter between the team, the polar bear chuckled heartily. "Don't celebrate yet boys, we have a hockey game to play. Now get out there and win!"

The team looked at him and responded with one loud shout.

"Right!"

* * *

Author's Note: There we have it! The start of a fanfiction! I tried my best but sadly I was only able to write a little over 800 words because I'm lazy. So, yeah, this is my first Zootopia fanfic and I hoped you guys enjoyed it! I would really appreciate feedback! Anyways, thanks for reading this story and Go Flames Go!

I also edited it a bit, just adding a little flashback of little Johnny. Thanks to Wildebunny the Eternal for the feedback!


	2. Chapter 2 - Carrot Farming

Author's Note: I won't post daily. I just decided to post this because I had it done already. With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

The sound of a siren screeched through the air. Cheering from the crowd filled the arena. While hockey was not as popular as baseball, basketball, or soccer, it still had an okay amount of fans. There were about 10,000 people who had come out to watch the game. This was the only arena in Zootopia but they considered this to be a home game for the Tornados, as with each game, they chose one of the teams to be the home team. In the Tornados locker room, the team was lined up as a specific nervous bunny donning a red and white jersey was standing behind the captain, Cam Howler. They began to walk out of the room, the bunny trying to calm itself with deep breaths. John Cottontail, the bunny, tried to remain calm as he saw the fans watch them as they walked by. Eventually, they reached the Zamboni entrance. Since it was a home game, they would do a home opener style entrance. The bunny waited for his cue. The coaches and staff were going on the bench first. Eventually, they were on and it was the players' turn.

"Now, we'll start things off with the captain of your Tornados, number 14...Cam Howler!"

When he heard his name, the big Arctic Wolf skated onto the ice, raising his stick up as a sort of salute to the fans. He went to center ice to wait for the rest of the players. A mix of cheers and boos filled the arena. Since this was the only arena in Zootopia, a lot of the opponent's fans had shown up as well. The bunny prepared himself for his name.

"And now, number 9, John Cottontail!"

Skating out, he looked around at the crowd, raising his stick up. The cheering and boos ensued. Despite the boos, he smiled, happy that people were cheering for him. While was distracted looking at the sea of faces, he suddenly fell forward, falling down flat on his face and dropping his stick which elicited a laugh from the crowd, players, and staff alike. Only Kris Southpaw was silent as he skated up to John after his turn. Kris held out his hand as an offer of help. John grabbed his hand and Kris pulled him up. The bunny sighed.

"Thanks, Kris…" the bunny said, thanking the fox.

The Arctic Fox nodded and skated to the center, John following him.

"What a fall, eh?" said the Arctic Wolf, chuckling a bit. "Did a female fan catch your eye?"

John shook his head frantically.

"What?! No! I was just distracted an-"

"I know, I know, just messing with you."

John sighed and watched as the rest of the team entered the rink, one at a time.

* * *

It was now time for warm-up. The players skated around the ice, doing their various warm-ups for the game on one half of the ice. The opponents, the Blades, were on the other half, doing their own warm-ups. John stickhandled a puck and shot at the net. He was still nervous but somehow managed to calm himself down a bit.

Suddenly, a yell was heard through the rink. "Look at that! A bunny playing hockey!"

"Haha! What is he going to do, hop around the rink?"

"Go back to carrot farming!"

"Yeah! Bunnies can't play hockey!"

John was disheartened. The game hadn't even started and people already doubted him. His mind once again went back to the memory of the three foxes. The rabbit began to question his decision to join the league, looking down at his skates

"What is this, the dark ages? Who said bunnies couldn't play hockey?!"

"Yeah! You guys are just scared that he'll kick your ass!"

"You go bunny!"

Kris had skated up beside him. "Don't listen to the hecklers. Focus on your game."

Just as suddenly as he had skated up to John, Kris skated away to go continue his warm-up. John's head lifted up, a smile on his face.

"Right. Don't let them get to you, John," he told himself.

* * *

Eventually, the warm-up was over as the players lined up for the faceoff. Cam Howler was taking the faceoff while John was on his left. Kris was on the other side. The referee went in between Cam and the opposing center, a wolf with very dark gray fur. On its left, a big beaver who was a bit bigger than John. On the right of the wolf, a lynx, who was right next to Kris. The puck dropped. Cam used his stick to quickly sweep the puck to Buck who was behind him and on his right. The opposing players fell back in their defensive positions. Buck immediately passed it over to Kris. Kris began to skate up the rink. The fox was very fast, skating past a forward who had tried to slam him against the boards. The rest of the Tornados set up for the cycle.

"Kris! I'm open!"

Kris turned to the source of the sound. He saw Cam who was in the slot, in between two faceoff circles and made a pass. The pass was perfect. Feeling the puck on his stick, he quickly took a shot while a defender was skating over to him. The shot was high, going over the net and around the boards to Cam's left. John, using his speed, beat a defenseman to the puck and quickly passed the puck back to Russell Frost but was unable to get out of the way in time as a wolf hit him against the boards. He fell over, an "oof" escaping his lips.

"Haha! See? I told you! The rabbit would get crushed within the first few minutes!" boasted someone from the crowd.

"Yeah, but it's not like he exploded or something! He can still play!"

Frost took a shot, which went wide. It rebounded off the wall and slid to the right of John. He noticed and instead of standing up, he pushed his foot against the wall and desperately swept it away, attempting to pass it to Kris. However, the beaver from the opposing side stole it and skated up ice. Since Frost had gone up to try to get the puck, the Blades had a two-on-one. Buck flopped on his belly, attempting to block any passes but the other beaver lifted the puck, the puck arching over Buck. The wolf with dark fur was about to take a shot but Kris was able to hustle back and tie up his stick. Frost rushed over to the puck and tried clearing the zone. While the clearing attempt was successful, a defenseman, who was a wolf from the other side had gotten control.

"Alright, let's change it up!" the Tornado's coach, Richard the polar bear, yelled across the ice.

"Yeah! Get your weak-ass bunny off the ice!" shouted another random fan.

"Let's go! They're changing!" the opposing coach, a mole, told his team.

As John, Cam, and Kris were skating over to the bench, something strange happened. The wolf was skating backward but accidentally bumped into his own defenseman, both of them falling over. Of course, everybody noticed it and John used all of his strength, trying to reach the puck but then a white blur suddenly zoomed past him.

'Cheese and crackers! Kris is fast!' the rabbit said in his head, amazed by Kris' blistering speed.

Kris had taken the puck and was going on a breakaway. The fox assessed his choices. He stickhandled the puck and then suddenly turned left in front of the goalie.

'He's going for a deke!' thought John.

The goalie, also having the same thought slid over to the right, kicking his leg out in the same direction. But Kris hadn't taken the puck with him. It simply slid through the hole between the goalie's legs and went in the net. The teammates and Tornados fans let out a cheer. Kris, however, didn't do a celebration. His face was still straight and serious as he skated past the bench, high-fiving everyone on the bench before sitting down. If Kris was happy about that goal, it wasn't showing. John went on the bench. He was about to ask why he didn't seem happy but stopped himself, thinking that he probably was on the inside.

"Nice goal," he said instead.

The white-furred fox simply nodded and looked at the ice as play resumed.

Cam tapped him on the shoulder.

"You know, Kris doesn't like to mention it but he was the first overall pick last year," commented Cam.

"If you know that I don't like to talk about it, then why are you talking about it?" replied Kris, who snapped his head over to Cam.

"Calm down. Just saying."

Kris said nothing and simply sighed. He turned his attention back to the ice. John, however, looked at Kris, his eyes reflecting admiration for his linemate. Unlike Kris, he was undrafted and had signed with the Tornados after a tryout.

"What are you looking at?" questioned Kris, who was still staring at the ice.

"Nothing!" John said as he looked away.

"Good."

* * *

Third period. There was a minute left in regulation. The Tornados and the Blades were tied up, 1-1. Neither team had let up ever since. Both teams were shutting down the offense and keeping it a tie game.

Meanwhile, a certain grey rabbit was sitting on the bench. He looked guilty. John was looking down at his skates.

"Hey, don't worry. It's not your fault," said Buck, trying to comfort him. "We'll get it back."

John was not convinced. After all, he had just messed up in the biggest way possible.

* * *

(Earlier in the game…)

_It was a powerplay. John had the puck in his own zone. He was waiting for a change to happen. The rabbit watched as 4 new skaters made their way on the ice. He saw Slade Slick, a wolf, who was part of their second power-play line. Deciding to give it to him, he slid the puck towards the wolf, the pass almost reaching him. John was heading to the bench._

_"He's on a breakaway!"_

_Those words made him turn back. A coyote from the other team had intercepted the pass right before Slade could receive it. John rushed back as fast as he could. He dove after the puck, trying to knock it away. The coyote used a toe drag to bring the puck around the diving bunny._

_After tricking the goalie with a deke, the coyote shot using his backhand, the puck going into the open net._

_"Yeah!" the coyote howled, celebrating his goal._

_While the other team celebrated, John slammed his stick against the boards in frustration, realizing he just gave the other team the game-tying goal._

* * *

John was thinking about the goal. One thing that surprised him was the fact that even after that play, the coach kept him on the first line. However, John was removed from the power-play unit. As the buzzer sounded to end the period, he had only a single thought.

'I have to make it up to them.'

* * *

Overtime. Where one goal could win it all.

John wasn't on the ice as the Tornados decided to start off with Cam Howler and Kris Southpaw as their forwards, Buck being the defenseman on the ice. He watched as Cam took the faceoff and cleanly won it. The puck went over to Buck. He watched as they headed up the ice to begin the cycle. The rabbit intently watched the three, trying to see if he could learn anything.

Robert Bear put his hand on the rabbit's shoulder. "Hey, Cottontail. You're up next with Slick."

After a while, Kris and Cam went off the ice and onto the bench as Buck skated into his own zone, keeping possession as the change happened. Slade and John hopped over the boards and skated into their own zone, getting open for a pass.

"Slade!" shouted Buck as he passed it to Slade.

The wolf skated up the ice, the two other players following. He took a shot. It went wide and went over to John who was on the left. The rabbit took the puck and took a shot as well. The goalie made the save but couldn't control the rebound so the puck slid all the way down the ice. Snowpelt, the goalie for the Tornados, passed the puck forward to Slade. This time, he passed to John. The rabbit skated out of his zone and rushed through center ice. An opposing defenseman caught an edge and fell.

John noticed this and shouted at his partner. "Slade! Two on one!"

Slade skated up and joined John. It was a two on one. John passed it to Slade. Slade skated up as the defenseman fell to the ice, attempting to prevent a pass. Slade was at the hash marks, looking like he was going to shoot. But at the very last second, he passed across to John. The opposing goalie slid across to attempt to make the save. The world seemed to be in slow-motion. While he was looking at his heard voices in his head.

"Bunnies can't play hockey!"

"These little bun-buns think they can play."

"What is he going to do, hop around the rink?"

"Go back to carrot farming!"

Carrot farming...carrot farming...those two words repeated in his mind.

John gripped his stick tightly, determination in his eyes. He took the shot. aiming for right under the goalie's arm. Right after that, an opponent knocked him over. He slid into the boards. The rabbit didn't see if the puck had gone in.

But the cheers of the crowd told him all that he needed to know.


	3. Chapter 3 - Smile

Author's Note: Thanks to WannaIOI for their feedback! I really appreciate it! Now, I'll try to post a chapter a week, though I may be busy sometimes. Thanks for bearing with me! Also, please leave feedback! I always appreciate it when people tell me how I can improve my writing.

* * *

The team was in good spirits as they walked into the locker room. Cheers filled the air as they each went to their stall, chatting with each other. One bunny was all smiles and was chatting away with some teammates while holding a taped puck in his hand. "First ZHL Goal" was written on the tape that was on the puck.

"Welcome to the ZHL bud!" said Cam Howler, patting him on the back.

Buck slid over to the bunny. "That was a nice goal, John! Congrats!"

All of the other teammates also expressed congratulations to the rabbit. The only one who didn't say anything was Kris Southpaw, who only nodded in approval.

The chatter continued for a while before a polar bear, their coach, walked in.

"Nice win tonight boys!" he said with a huge smile on his face. "Make sure you get some rest tonight, you guys deserve it! Anyways, there will be a practice tomorrow at noon. I want to see all of you there. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" replied the team.

The coach smiled. "Good, I'll see you all tomorrow. Again, nice game, rest well, enjoy the win!"

He began to walk out of the locker room. The chatter started up again.

"Oh, and I almost forgot one more thing," the polar bear announced, turning around at the entrance of the locker room.

The chatter once again stopped as they looked at their coach. There was a silence in the room for a few moments as the players waited for whatever the polar bear was going to tell the team.

"Congratulations to Johnny for his first goal," he said before exiting the locker room.

There was a loud cheer as some teammates went over to him and pat his back. Cam put his paw on John's head, carefully making sure his claws wouldn't stab the rabbit. Then the wolf ruffled the fur on John's head.

"The first of many to come!" Cam shouted.

More shouts of approval were heard in the room. Even Kris seemed to agree, a small smile forming on his face. Jenna watched from the corner with a smile. She was happy for the rabbit. During the entire game, the vixen couldn't help but want to cheer for John. Jenna Southpaw also noticed that Kris smiled for the first time in a while.

"That bunny...he really is an interesting one."

* * *

John rushed through the parking lot of the rink.

'I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late!' he thought, checking his watch.

It said 11:58. The practice was going to start in a minute. The rabbit ran for his life, rushing inside the building and looked around frantically for the locker room. He hadn't gotten used to the layout of the arena yet. Noticing a map on a wall, he ran over to it and looked for where the locker room was. He checked his watch. It now said 11:59.

Smiling, he thought. 'I still have time! But I better hurry up.'

While at the most, he'd be late by 2 or so minutes, he didn't want to be late. The guys had told him about how strict the polar bear was on punctuality. John ran around, eventually finding the locker room. He sprinted inside. The rabbit closed the door behind him, panting. Taking a look at his watch one more time, he watched as the time changed from 11:59 to 12:00.

"Yes! I'm not late!" he said to himself.

He walked into the stall portion of the locker room only to see a few players. Other than himself, only Kris Southpaw, Cam Howler, and Rick Chiptooth, who was Buck's brother, were there. The coaching staff was there.

"What are you doing here so early John? Only assistant captains and captains had to come early," asked Jenna.

John was confused for a second, scratching his head. He knew that his watch said that it was 12:00. Suddenly, he could only grimace as he realized that he made a big mistake.

It was Fall Back today.

* * *

"I can't believe that I forgot to turn my watch back an hour!" exclaimed John, putting on a red practice jersey.

"Hey, it's not that bad. Not like you'll get in trouble for coming here early," replied Jenna in an attempt to comfort him.

The rabbit sighed. "I know but I basically gave myself a heart attack thinking I was late. However, you're right, it's not that bad."

He looked at Jenna Southpaw, the skating coach for the Tornados. The fox seemed friendly and she seemed to care about the team. John also noticed her looking at him in the locker room yesterday, before and after the game, but he decided to ignore it.

"Anyways," said the vixen, "I better get back to looking after my younger brother. Since I'm the older sister, it's my job to make sure he's okay."

John laughed a bit. "Good thing Kris didn't hear that."

"That's where you're wrong," said Kris, who was tying his skate laces.

Jenna simply laughed as well and looked at her brother. "You know I'm right!"

Kris simply sighed and focused his attention on his skates. Jenna and John had a good laugh as Kris mumbled something about how he should have been the older one. Eventually, they stopped.

"Anyways, Miss Jenna, what's the plan for today?" he asked.

Jenna playfully punched him on the arm. "Hey, I'm not that much older than you guys. I'm only one year older than Kris over there!"

"And how old is Kris?"

"19. He's entering his second season in the ZHL."

"Huh, he's only one year older than me…"

"I guess so. Anyways, we'll mostly be doing skating drills. Normally, we would do checking but looking at you, you'll probably be focusing more on skating."

John looked confused. "Wait, why? I can practice checking too."

Jenna chuckled and ruffled the fur on the rabbits head. It seemed like a lot of people liked to do that to him.

"Well," Jenna replied, looking away awkwardly, "You are fast and we want to help you utilize that in games...also...you're not that big…"

"Hey! I'm not that small!"

Jenna chuckled a bit. "Yeah, you're right. You're only the smallest player to ever play in the league! All those other guys tower over you. Besides, you won't ever get a clean hit on them, that's a given."

The rabbit's ears drooped as she said that.

"But you can outskate them."

John looked up at Jenna. "You think I will be able to outskate all of those guys?"

The arctic fox shrugged. "If you practice hard enough, then you'll be the fastest player in the league."

Cam overheard the conversation and joined in. "You shouldn't say that in front of the fastest skater in the league."

"Oh relax, Kris doesn't mind it, do you, Kris?" Jenna said, turning to her brother.

Kris simply shook his head, not really caring about the conversation.

Jenna chuckled. "Yeah, see? He doesn't mind."

"Hey, how did you become a skating coach at such a young age? You're only 20."

"You don't know Cam? Well, after your last skating coach left, they searched for a new one. They interviewed and tested me. I guess they liked what I did since they hired me a week later. But then again, not that many people know how to skate here in Zootopia...or as some people call it, Zootropolis."

"Ah, that makes sense," replied Cam.

John wanted to ask the same question but he thought it would've been rude. But he didn't mind, as he had gotten the answer to the question anyway.

"Anyways, we should get going. The practice is going to start soon."

So Cam, Kris, John, and Jenna walked out of the room followed by other players who had gotten their gear on.

* * *

John looked at the ground, panting as he glided over to the skating coach. The team had already done a ton of drills earlier, so he was very tired. They were nearing the end of practice.

"Good job, though you have to work on your edgework a bit. You need to be able to turn tightly," said the arctic fox as he passed by. "Go over and wait at the boards. Just remember to go a bit lower in your turns next time."

The rabbit was too tired to say anything and simply nodded as he slowly glided over to the boards near the bench. All of the players had done the drill six times at this point. There were two lines and they were all working on the same drill.

Jenna looked at the next player in line. "Alright, Kris, you're up."

Cam tapped John's shoulder and pointed to Kris. "Watch. This guy's the best damn skater I've ever seen."

The rabbit, tired, slowly turned around to watch. Jenna blew her whistle. Kris immediately started to skate. He stickhandled the puck and began to turn on a pylon. John was amazed at how tight his turns were and how natural it seemed for Kris. It was like Kris could turn on a dime. It wasn't just his technique that was good. The arctic fox was also really fast, quickly skating over to the next pylon.

"Cheese and crackers...Kris is fast…"

He watched as Kris turned around the second pylon and began to sprint across the ice. The arctic fox then turned around the third pylon at the other end of the ice. He then went over to the fourth pylon which was at the hash marks on the other side of the starting area and then shot the puck into the net.

"Impressive as always Kris. Good job."

Kris nodded and went over to the bench.

"Jeez, you're fast Kris!" said John, amazed by his skating ability.

"Thanks. You weren't bad either."

"Well, I might have been okay but you were on a whole other level! How did you get so good?"

"Practice. Jen over there would practice with me every morning and we'd work on skating. She used to be a figure skater you know."

"Wow! So, do you think you could teach me how to skate like that?"

"Well...uh...I'm not much of a teacher, sorry. Jen should do a great job turning you into a fast skater."

"Ah, okay."

An awkward silence lingered in the air. John was thinking about if he should say something to make things less awkward. They just stood there, looking at each other, waiting to see if the other would talk.

"I'm jealous of you, Kris. You are probably the best player of all time. You have it all. The footwork, the speed, the handling ability, the size, a really good aim, it's like there's nothing you lack."

"Hey...I'm not that gre-"

"Tweeeeeeeet!"

The sound of a whistle interrupted them. Kris and John looked over at their head coach, Richard Bear, who was gesturing at all of the players to go over to him.

"Alright, good job on that drill. For the most part, you all did really well. Now, we're going to work on two-on-ones. While they might be pretty uncommon, you should be ready in case one happens, as the defending side of the two-on-one and as well as on the offensive side. Every forward, choose a partner. Defensemen, just line up next to both nets. Goalies, decide who's going to which net for this drill. The forwards have fifteen seconds to attempt a shot. Defensemen will try to get the puck away from the two forwards. You will have 3 attempts to score."

The players complied. The defensemen split up into two groups, one going to one end of the rink, the other going to the other end. The goalies chose their sides.

However, the forwards were taking a while to make partners.

"Hey, Cam! Want to partner up?"

"So, do you have a partner yet Slade? No? How about we be partners?"

"Alright, Rick, want to be partners?"

The other forwards found their partners and the groups of two went to form lines at each net. Only Kris and John were left. The rabbit turned to Kris.

"So...partners?"

The arctic fox simply nodded. Then the two went over to a net and lined up, waiting for their turn.

"Alright, first up, Cam Howler and Alex Ironclaw!" announced the coach.

Kris and John watched as Cam skated with the puck. Buck was the defenseman. Cam made a pass to Slade. Slade kept moving up. Buck fell on his stomach in an attempt to block any passes they may attempt. Eventually, Alex got too close to the goalie, who was Fang, to pass and Buck was blocking the way anyways, so Alex took the shot. Of course, it was a routine save for the goalie.

"Sorry, I should have decided to pass or shoot sooner…"

"It's fine Alex. You did what you could."

"Thanks. Hey, nice defense Bucky."

"Thanks, guys."

The three players eventually went back to their lines, Buck going to the line for the defensemen while the other two players went to the back of the line of forward pairings.

"Next up, Rick Chiptooth and Jericho Furrington!"

John looked on as they started their attempt. Suddenly, Kris tapped the bunny's shoulder.

"We should talk about our strategy."

"Okay, what should we do?"

"One of us will start off with the puck. Then they'll pass to the other, who'll pass it back for a quick shot. However, we have to use quick passes."

John nodded and watched as a pass from Jericho gave Rick and open net to shoot at. Rick scored.

"Whoo!"

"Nice goal, Rick!"

"Thanks, you set me up well, Jericho."

Russell Frost, the defensemen skated up to the two.

"Nice goal," he said.

"Thanks. You did well too."

"Nah, I didn't anticipate the pass in time."

After a few moments of talking, the three of them split off and went to their lines. John and Kris waited for their cue to start. Kris would start off with the puck. The white-furred fox would skate up the ice with John following beside him. Kris made a quick pass to John. John then made a quick pass back to Kris but he missed the stick of the fox. His pass went far in front of the fox. The fox regained control but was now at too sharp of an angle to pass as he was too far to the left of the net. So, he decided to go with a shot. The fox aimed and took his shot. Of course, the goalie made the save.

"Shoot! Sorry, Kris, my passing sucked there."

"It's fine. Let's just focus on getting better. How about next time, you start off, fake a pass, then shoot?"

"Alright."

The defensemen, Mark Lupin, went up to the two.

"Nice defense, Mark," John said.

"Nah, I lucked out. Better luck next time though."

"Alright."

Kris had said nothing through the entire exchange. The three made their ways to their lines and Kris and John watched as Alex and Cam made their attempt. The attempt was successful this time, as Cam pretended to pass but then shot the puck into the top corner of the net. Jericho and Slade weren't as lucky as the goalie made the save with his glove. Then, it was Kris and John's turn. John started with the puck, speeding down the ice while Kris followed beside him. The rabbit faked a pass, following their plan. Thankfully, the defenseman dove down anticipating a pass. However, the goaltender wasn't fooled and as soon as John made the shot, he got into position easily and made the save.

"Damn it!" exclaimed John. "Sorry, Kris...I guess it wasn't convincing enough."

The fox simply shrugged as the two glided their way to the line. "It's okay. I should've known that Fang would have predicted that after Cam did it. We have one more try. Okay, how about we try what you did with Slade. I'll pass the puck to you at the last second."

John nodded and looked away but then Kris put his hand on the rabbit's shoulder. The rabbit snapped his head to look back at the fox.

"We also need to distract them a bit beforehand. I'll start off. We'll pass back and forth a few times...let's say...four quick passes. Then I'll just skate forward with it until the last possible second. I'll go with a backhand, so be ready."

The rabbit nodded again, understanding what they were going to do. Kris turned his head away and watched as the other two groups did their attempts. Again, Cam and Alex scored, this time Alex potting the goal as Cam made the pass arc over the defensemen, who went down on the ice to stop any passes. That backfired horribly, as Alex had the puck perfectly on his stick and shot the puck into the open net as the goalie had stayed with Cam, thinking that the arctic wolf couldn't pass. Next, Slade and Jericho went. Jericho went for a pass but the pass hit the defenseman's stick. Luckily for the two, the puck redirected right past the goalie, over the leg pads. Everybody had a good laugh over that. Now, it was John and Kris' turn. Kris started with the puck and began to skate. The fox passed it to the bunny who quickly passed it back. Then, Kris passed it back only for it to return from him seconds later. At this point, the defenseman went down to the ice, anticipating a pass. But Kris instead kept moving closer to the goal. The goalie moved to face Kris, so he could be ready for a shot or maybe even poke check the puck. However, Kris just moved forwards, not seeming to attempt anything. He was almost at the goal line. The defenseman, noticing this, went up to his knees so he could stand up, forming a table shape. Suddenly, Kris sent a bullet of a pass back to John, the puck passing under the small space between the defenseman and the ice, and went to John, who already winded up his stick. The rabbit had no time to admire how perfect the pass was and took his shot. The puck shot through the air. Fang tried to come across and lifted his glove in an attempt to make the save but he was too late as the puck went in the net.

"Yes!" celebrated the rabbit.

John went over to Kris, smiling now that he finally got a goal. Kris simply nodded, the calm, never-smiling expression still on his face.

"Nice goal."

"Well, I couldn't have done it without your amazing pass! How did you do that?"

"Just saw a hole."

"Just saw a hole, yeah right. How did you get it to me so perfectly?"

"I was lucky."

"Lucky my ass! You are the most awesome player in the world!"

The arctic fox simply rolled his eyes and skated away. "Whatever."

As he was skating away, a smile grew on his face.

Cam was surprised, as he looked at Jenna. "Are my eyes not working or is Kris smiling?"

Kris' sister just looked at her brother, smiling at seeing the usually serious and nonchalant fox actually smiling for once.

"Yup."

* * *

The next day...

A bus arrived at the arena. The doors opened, revealing a hockey team. The Tornados stepped out and began to make their way inside the arena, chatting to each other about various things. Then another bus appeared, another team, the Tornados opponents emerging from the vehicle.

"Hey look! It's Kyle!"

All of the members of the Tornados whipped around, watching a fox come out of the bus and make his way to the entrance.

John's eyes widened as he realized he knew this fox. His mind flashed back to the day at the pond.

"_These little bun-buns think they can play."_

Even though he was older and looked a bit different, there was no mistaking it.

He definitely knew this fox.


End file.
